Holy Rollers: Murder & Madness in Oregon's Love Cult is a story that has everything a good read should have: sex, religion, insanity, the downfall of prominent families, murder and sensational court trials. And all of it is true. In 1903 Edmund Creffield lured most of Corvallis’s Salvation Army Soldiers to his church, The Brides of Christ. One of them, he preached, was destined to be the mother of the next Christ, and like the first Mary, she would be a virgin. Even those sitting next to t...

**Now a Major Motion Picture Directed by George ClooneyThe #1 New York Times–bestselling story about the American Olympic rowing triumph in Nazi Germany—from the author of Facing the Mountain.**For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the...

New York Times Bestseller: From the journalists who covered the story, the shocking crimes of Gary Ridgway, America's most prolific serial murderer.In the 1980s and 1990s, forty-nine women in the Seattle area were brutally murdered, their bodies dumped along the Green River and Pacific Highway South in Washington State. Despite an exhaustive investigation—even serial killer Ted Bundy was consulted to assist with psychological profiling—the...

Early on an April morning, eighteen-year-old Billy Frank Gilley, Jr., killed his sleeping parents. Surprised in the act by his younger sister, Becky, he turned on her as well. Billy then climbed the stairs to the bedroom of his other sister, Jody, and said, “We’re free.” But is one ever free after an unredeemable act of violence? The Gilley family murders ended a lifetime of physical and mental abuse suffered by Billy and Jody at the hands of their parents. And it required each of the two ...

The Hill and Wang Critical Issues Series: concise, affordable works on pivotal topics in American history, society, and politics.In this pioneering study, White explores the relationship between the natural history of the Columbia River and the human history of the Pacific Northwest for both whites and Native Americans. He concentrates on what brings humans and the river together: not only the physical space of the region but also, and primarily, energy and work. For working with t...

On October 1, 1917, prohibition came into effect in the province of British Columbia. Washington and Oregon had gone dry the previous year. The ban on liquor sales led to deadly conflict and legal chaos in the Pacific Northwest, and the legacy of those “booze battles” continues into the 21st century.Rich Mole introduced readers to West Coast prohibition’s pioneer years in Scoundrels and Saloons: Whisky Wars of the Pacific Northwest, 1840–1917. In Rum-runners and Renega...

Clarkston, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho, are twin cities that meet at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers in southeast Washington. Gold was discovered upstream in the Clearwater drainage in 1860. A few settlers crossed the Snake River to an area called Jawbone Flats. It was flat and covered with sagebrush. Thirty years later, investors from back East arrived with big plans. C. Van Arsdol designed the first irrigation system, and Charles Francis Adams was a big influence in...

Free Boy is the story of a 13-year-old slave who escaped from Washington Territory to freedom in Canada on the West's underground railroad.When James Tilton came to Washington Territory as surveyor-general in the 1850s he brought with his household young Charles Mitchell, a slave he had likely received as a wedding gift from a Maryland cousin. The story of Charlie's escape in 1860 on a steamer bound for Victoria and the help he received from free blacks reveals how nationa...

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors-many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures-were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ral...

An expert in Americana explores the legendary eateries of Seattle's past, from culinary pioneers to neighborhood haunts, roadside diners, and more.From the nineteenth century to today, Seattle has been home to some of the finest oyster houses, dining rooms, and lunch counters in America. It has seen them come and, in many cases, watched them go. In Lost Restaurants of Seattle, author Chuck Flood celebrates nearly a thousand of Seattle's vanished eateries, along wit...

Winner of the 2014 Albert Corey Prize from the American Historical AssociationWinner of the 2013 Hal Rothman Award from the Western History AssociationWinner of the 2013 John Lyman Book Award in the Naval and Maritime Science and Technology category from the North American Society for Oceanic HistoryFor centuries, borders have been central to salmon management customs on the Salish Sea, but how those borders were drawn has had very different effects on the Northwest...

Two members of the Pacific Northwest's oldest working ghost-hunting team (AGHOST) share the spooky stories of Washington State's City of Destiny.Tacoma hides in the shadows of Seattle, but what hides in the shadows of Tacoma? The city's paranormal history is riddled with Native American culture, spiritualists, mysterious deaths, tragedy, and curses that dwell in the dark. Much of Tacoma is built directly on top of sacred lands, and many natives to the area can atte...